Like Bonnie and Clyde, Bob and Diane (Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch, both
in career-best performances) were in love and on the run. Instead of robbing
banks, however, they traversed the Northwest robbing pharmacies in search
of their next fix. With idiosyncratic pacing, clever use of music, and delightfully
kitschy '70s period details, Van Sant creates a sharp film that captures
the adrenaline rush of stealing, the release of shooting up, and the loneliness
of going straight. Drugstore Cowboy ushered in the provocative, edgy
new era of independent cinema and remains one of the landmark films of the
period. With Heather Graham, James Le Gros, Max Perlich, James Remar, and
William Burroughs. 1989, U.S., color, 35mm, 104 minutes.PRECEDED
BY: Junior
(1988, 3 minutes) and Four Boys in a Volvo (1996, 4 minutes).WITH

My Own
Private Idaho
photo: Abigayle Tarsches

MY
OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, 9 PMRiver Phoenix, in his
most iconic role, portrays a narcoleptic hustler named Mike who frequently
finds himself on the side of a country road, longing for home. He falls
in love with fellow hustler Scott (Keanu Reeves), who is slumming with squatters
until he inherits his family fortune. Named after the B-52s song and quoting
liberally from Shakespeare's Henry IV,My Own Private Idaho reveals
Van Sant's promiscuous mixing of periods, genres, and sexualities to heartbreaking,
dreamy effect. 1991, U.S., color, 35mm, 102 minutes.PRECEDED
BY:Flea Sings (1991, 2 minutes) and The Discipline of DE (1982, 4 minutes).

GUS VAN SANT: ON THE ROAD AGAIN IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS
SUPPORT FROM THE REGIS FOUNDATION. PROGRAMMING ASSISTANCE WAS PROVIDED BY
THINKFILM.